Other Side of the Tracks
by April.Whitlock
Summary: Bella & Jess go to a party where they don't belong. Bella runs into a handsome stranger who she cant get off her mind. Does he feel the same for her? Or is it true that all rich people are rude and arrogant? New rating.
1. Bella & Jess

Other side of the Tracks. Chapter ONE

**A/N: This is my first fanfic, its not going to be brilliant because I havent written a story since primary school! And even tho I go to uni my grammar is terrible :P , but please review and tell me how im going. I have some good ideas for stories in the future, so this is just to get the hang of things. I hope you like it! and of course I dont own any of the characters, Stephenie does, I'm just having some fun with them :)**

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After going thru every item in my cupboard for the last 3 hours I had finally worked out tonight's outfit. I had settled on my red skirt about 1 hour ago, and now I had decided a plain black top with a lace trim complimented it perfectly. I didn't usually take this long to get ready for an outing, Jeans and whatever shirt was clean was the dress code for Forks piss-ups. Tonight was different though; Jess was taking me to her cousin Mikes party out near the Reserve. It's a well-known fact that Mike's parties attract only the most gorgeous and rich kids in the area, so I had to make an effort tonight.

I tied my hair into a neat bun just as I heard Jess's car honking angrily at me. I slipped on my black heels and raced out the door. I was thankful Charlie was away for the weekend. Whenever I leave the house he tries to be fatherly and give me 'advice' but it always ends up some awkward exchange about teenage drinking statistics. I could do without that conversation tonight.

"Hey Bella, wow someone's looking pretty tonight!" Jess greeted me

"Well I can only hope" I smiled at her as I buckled my seatbelt.

"You could have used a little more make up tho, did you even bring a compact?" she frowned at me with overly red lips. Jess was never very subtle with her make up choices.

"No, but that's ok, you seem to have brought extra on your face anyway" I couldn't help but giggle.

"Ha, Ha, very funny" Jess retorted sarcastically as her car rattled its way down the street. I attempted to find some kind of signal on the dodgy radio but it was nearly impossible.

"Now, remember we are ladies tonight. No chugging down 3 jager bombs, although im totally in the mood for it! Tonight we are well behaved and charming" Jess confidently said with a grin on her face.

"I doubt its gonna work Jess.. I mean those boys can have anyone they want, why the hell would they want anything to do us.." I trailed off.

"That's not the right attitude Bella! Come on, do you know how hard it was to get us invited. Just go along with it for one night" Jess pleaded.

"Okay, Okay. There is bound to be some eye candy, right?" I said cheekily.

"That's the spirit!"

"Although, Jess.. If we are going to try and look like we fit in, maybe we should park further down the street? This bomb of yours will give us away in an instant" I giggled.

Jess smirked at me, "This 'bomb' happens to drive your sorry ass around town tho doesn't it?". So I hadn't got my license yet. Big deal. But Jess couldnt help bringing it up.

It didn't take long and we had arrived on Castell Boulevard. She ended up taking my advice and we parked 4 houses down. Although calling them houses was an understatement, they were bordering on mansions. We walked past, gawking at the perfectly manicured lawns, and huge stone sculptures. Mikes house was just the same with a winding pebble pathway to the huge front porch.

We were greeted at the front door by a woman that seemed overly happy to see us.

"Come in, come in! My Jess look at you haven't you grown" She grabbed Jess and gave her a huge hug.

"Hey Aunty Margaret, This is my friend Bella" She said gesturing her hand towards me.

"Ah.. Nice to meet you" I managed to splutter out. _Damn it Bella, if you cant even talk to someones mother, how the hell are you going to deal with a backyard full of people?_

"You too darling. Jess I'm so glad you came, I will have to chat to you again before you leave, but why don't you go find Mike. Everyone is already out the back" She smiled.

"Sure, ill find you before we go. Come on Bella" Jess lead me through the dining area, through huge French doors, and into straight into Hell.

Well at least that's what it felt like.

Every girl I saw was tall, beautiful and tanned. The majority blonde as well. _How exactly were we supposed to compete with that?_ The boys all looked like they belonged in the next James Bond movie. I suddenly lost whatever tiny scrap of confidence I bring with me tonight, and glared at Jess. I had a feeling she was just as intimidated as me, but she was soldiering on.

"Right, umm lets go find Mike" she said quiety.

We walked past two supermodels, and one Brad Pitt look-a-like on the way to a group of people standing by the pool. Jess tapped on the shoulder of a blonde haired guy who slowly turned around to look at us.

Wow, HE certainly fitted in…

"Cuzzz! Hows it goin??" She said with a huge smile. In an attempt to be over confident she had completely forgotten to be charming. Or even remotely lady like.

"Umm.. Jess? lovely to see you" Mike said with an unconvincing smile.

There was moment of awkward silence before Jess finally gripped my arm and said "And this is my friend Bella"

"Hi Bella" Mike said and I just smiled. _Damn it Bella you should at least have said hello back.._

A few more moments of silence while we all just glanced at each other. It was obvious Mike didn't particularly want to talk to us. And neither Jess or I knew what to say.

"Why don't you ladies get yourselves a drink?" Mike said, practically dismissing us. He turned back around to the group he was standing with.

Without saying a word Jess just turned around and stormed over to the Bar, still holding my arm and dragging me along behind.

"He didn't even fucking introduce us to his friends!" She exclaimed angrily. I was glad nobody was sitting near us to hear Jess's rant.

"Wow Jess, for family he doesn't really seem all that friendly.." I said, hoping up onto a bar stool.

"Its his dad's fault" She said, loweing her voice and climbing onto the stool next to me "Rupert is a big shot lawyer or something, and back in the day Aunty Margaret was his secretary. They had a quick fling but she ended up falling pregnant. His biggest mistake apparently, being associated with a floozy from Forks"

"Wait, Jess I know we aren't really upmarket in Forks, but we honestly cant have that kind of a reputation??" I said a bit too angrily.

"That's the corporate world though Bella.. They all think they are on top and we are far, far below them. Anyway, He married her out of guilt, but refused to have anything to do with the rest of our family. Aunty Margaret had no choice really, he could offer her a life for her child, money, security. So I don't blame her"

"Nah I wouldn't either…" I said, glancing out into the crowd.

"She tries to talk Rupert into letting us come and visit, even just for Christmas but he is adamant they are not to be associated with us. The attitude has rubbed off on Mike, obviously" She glared in his direction.

"Wait, then how come you and I are aloud here tonight?" I questioned.

"Rupert is out of town" Jess grinned smugly "Aunty Margaret is still Mike's mum, I'm sure she just had to threaten to take his credit card off him and he caved in. Probably promised not to tell his dad too!"

"JESS! Gosh now I feel even worse, lets just go home. We aren't wanted, we don't fit in, its pointless…" I rambled. _Dear god just get me out of here.._

"Shoosh Bella! We are here now, lets at least have a free drink" She reached over the bar and grabbed two Cruisers. "Maybe Mikes friends wont be as rude as he is"

_Hmm maybe a drink or two will settle the nerves, I'll sit thru this for Jess's sake._

"Fiiine, but watch yourself, I want to make it home in one piece" I warned

"Bella your worse than your dad!" She giggled.

I scoffed at her and we clinked our bottles together and took a sip.

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**A/N: Okay so what did you think?? This is actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. The Jess/Mike family story sort of wrote itself, I wasnt planning on putting it in. Dont worry Edward will arrive soon!! PLEASE tell me how im going, im sure ive made lots of mistakes!!**


	2. New York, New York

**A/N: Okay I wrote the next chapter right after the last one, so I thought why not put it up? Once again, it writes itself. The party was supposed to be over with in the first Chapter, but for some reason it wanted to go on longer :) Special thanks to Bardiel43 for his help! Now your aloud to read it :)**

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One hour and two more drinks later, we were still sitting at the bar and had not been approached by even one person. The closest we got was an odd glare every now and then and a tiny smile from the Brad Pitt look-a-like. At least I think it was a smile, it could have been more of a smirk.

"Jesss… seriously, nobody is even talking to us. I bet they are all staring and wondering what the fuck we're doing here" I whined.

"Maybe we should actually go talk to someone.." Jess thought out loud.

I froze for a moment, I did NOT want to approach anyone else at this party. I was willing to deal with it if anyone came up to us, but there was no way I was making any first moves. Thankfully Jess interrupted my little freak out by muttering "I don't think im drunk enough for that.."

_Phew_. Crisis diverted.

"Let's go find Aunty Margaret tho, I did promise I'd talk to her" Jess said as she got down off her stool.

_Okay we weren't going home but getting out of this crowd was better than nothing_. I got down off my seat and felt a sharp pain down my leg. _Ouch! Pins and needles. _ I rubbed my knee and not very gracefully hobbled after Jess. We walked back through the French doors, and into a lounge room to the left. Margaret was chatting with another woman who I guessed must be a parent of one of the supermodels littering the backyard.

"Jess! Hows the party going?" Margaret smiled our way.

"Yea its great, your backyard is really good for entertaining" Jess complimented.

"June, this is my niece Jess. She just came down from New York to spend some time with us.." Margaret said all too smoothly.

Jess had a stunned look on her face. She was certainly not from New York.

_She WISHES she was from new york_ I giggled to myself.

Unless this was some sort of family joke??

"Oh, how nice, I was there recently on business. It's a wonderful City. Where abouts do you live?" June bombarded Jess with questions.

Jess was still a little shocked but the couple of drinks must have helped her confidence "Ahh, the Upper West side?" She replied, but it sounded more like a question.

"Oh I love the main Gallery up there! Its so stylish. And the shopping boutiques are amazing. Is your friend from New York too?" June continued to question.

I noticed Margaret wasn't participating in this conversation, but staring blankly at her glass of wine.

"Ahh Yep, actually shes really not feeling well so I'm going to take her back to the.. ah.. hotel. I'll.. umm.. call you tomorrow okay Aunty Margaret. Thanks again" Jess fumbled her way through the explination.

I wasn't exactly sure what was happening so I put my hand to my head just to accentuate my "headache" and gave a quick smile.

"A little too much to drink deary!" Margaret giggled, still staring at her glass of wine "Kids these days…"

Jess put her hand on my back and practically pushed me out of the room and into the hallway.

"Jess, what was that all abou.." I started to ask when I saw her eyes welling up.

"We can talk in the car" She snapped angrily continuing to storm down the hallway and out the front door, the tears steadily building up.

She hastily opened the front door to a very handsome man with his arm poised to knock.

"FUCK!!" Jess said, in shock. Then she reached up to wipe away tears "fuck fuck fuck.." she muttered, no longer in shock but more at the fact her mascara was running infront of this gorgeous man. She quickly barged her way out the door and headed straight for her car.

"Ahh, maybe later sweetheart?" he chuckled at her as she stormed down the driveway.

For the two seconds he had his head turned I let myself stare at his face. He had a stunning jaw line, and a slight amount of stubble, shiny white teeth, captivating eyes…

_Shit! Captivating eyes that were looking at me!_

"Ahh.." I started to come up with something to say. Anything to break the silence but my thoughts were all jumbled from the events of the last 5 minutes.

Instead of looking freaked out that I was staring, he just smiled. And not a fake kind of smile like Mike had given us earlier, or a smirk like I'd seen on nearly everyones face tonight. It was a real, genuine, almost-about-to-laugh smile. I nearly melted right there and then.

"You should probably check up on your friend.." He said cheerfully as he stepped into the house.

_Bella you idiot, you've just been standing there!!_

"Mmm, yep." I managed to mumble as I stepped out onto the porch and down the pebbled path. I heard the door shut behind me.

I walked the four houses along to where Jess's car was parked. She was in the front seat crying her eyes out. I figured she probably didn't notice I was lagging behind her.

I got in the passengers seat and rubbed her back. After a few moments her sobs subsided.

"Jess… your not from New York right?" I asked, stating the obvious.

"Fucks sake Bella, you've known me all my life! I WISH I was from New York" She spluttered out.

"Then why did she say you were down visiting… I don't get it?" I said calmly, still rubbing her back.

"I didn't think she would still do that…" Jess sobed, not answering my question.

She faltered through her bag for a hanker chief and blew her nose loudly. Her breathing was slowly calming down.

"Are you ok to drive?" I tentatively asked.

"Yes" She replied calmly.

Jess stayed silent on the trip home, and I didn't dare ask any more questions. Even though I had a million running through my head. _Why did Margaret say Jess was visiting from New York? Why did Mike's family seem to have it in for Jess's family? Why are rich people so rude? Should I really be ashamed I live in the Suburbs?_

Jess stopped just in front of my driveway "Ill call you okay? Thanks for coming Bella" Jess said rather quietly.

"Anytime Jess" I said. _And by anytime I mean never, ever, again._

I hoped out of the car and walked up my driveway when the last question for the evening popped into my head

_What is his name?_

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**A/N: ooo, so what is his name?? Was that finally Edward? Or has Bella just bumped into Jasper/Emmett/Jacob?? Maybe even Eric WHO KNOWS!! im not even sure :P Review and let me know what you think. I'll try and get the next chapter up by tomorrow night**.


	3. Risotto

**A/N: Ok this chapter is kinda crap, It's just to fill in some plot lines. Like I said, im still learning! I would have spent more time editing but I wanted to get a move on so here it is..**

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I woke up the next morning, still a bit groggy from last nights events. I rolled over to see the time on my alarm clock. _8:47_.. Jess usually called after 9 so I made my way to the shower.

Just as I was sliding on my jeans when I heard my phone go off_. 9:03.. good timing._

"Yeellow" I answered.

"Hey Bella, Do you wanna come to lunch with me and mum today?"

"Sure thing. Umm.. are you feeling better from last night?"

"Yea, yea, its all good, Anyway we'll come past at 12. See ya."

"Bye" I shut my phone and threw it on my bed. Hopefully I was going to get some answers today. I knew Jess wasn't hiding anything but it frustrated me not knowing.

Jess's mum picked a small café in town, with one of the best menus I've ever seen.

"Mmm.. I can't decide between the risotto or the lasagne" I mused as I read through the scrumptious list of meals on offer.

"Get the risotto Bella, its to die for" Susan replied, "I think ill go with the pumpkin soup"

Jess ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and added a round of drinks to finish the order. Once the waiter had left I plucked up the courage to ask Jess again about last night. Maybe in front of her mum I might get a conclusive answer.

"Jess, Last night.." But she cut me off before I could finish

"Bella I know, sorry. I should never have even gone there I knew that side of the family is just trouble" Jess explained.

"But why did she say you were from New York? And why did you just make up an answer?" I asked yet again.

"Hah! New York this time sweetie, your quite the globe trotter aren't you?" Susan laughed.

I must have looked stunned. I was certainly even more confused now.

"God Knows why I went along with it.. I just didn't want to create a scene I guess…Every other time she's said something like that I shrug it off" Jess paused for a moment. "Bella, Aunty Margaret married Rupert to give her son a proper future, she did it for him.." she started to explain.

"But honestly, who could deny themselves that kind of lifestyle?" Susan butted in "She got sucked into the fame and fortune that comes with a successful husband. She's my sister and I will always love her dearly, but she's changed.." Susan finished, looking away from the table.

"She said I was from New York because she cant bare to admit she has 'connections' in the suburbs. She tries to push that life behind her. The handful of times we are even introduced to people she makes up some new city we are from. I think she completely forgets the lies that she makes up" Jess finished.

I tried to take it all in. It certainly made my family seem less complicated.

"Wow.." I started to say.

Jess giggled, "Bella its okay, Sorry I even have to explain this too you."

"Well, thank you it certainly clears up a lot of things" I said. It honestly had, but it had also opened my eyes to a world I didn't realise existed.

"You can see it in their faces though couldn't you? Every single one of them!" Jess said still giggling, "They all had horrible fake smiles, it almost looked painful"

Susan joined in the giggling, "I can imagine, all looking stiff like dolls. All trying too hard to be prim and proper"

I couldn't help but laugh "your right, all of them" _Except one. _

Our food arrived, and I bet the waiter was wondering what was so hilarious. He just gave us a smile and walked off.

"Yumm this risotto smells gooooood" I said, changing the subject

"It does, doesn't it?" Susan said, getting stuck into her soup.

"mmm" was all I heard from Jess as she devoured her sandwich.

We continued our meal in silence which gave me some time to think about the conversation. Okay, so I had got some of my questions answered. They were all a bunch of rich snobs who had no family values, and Jess just went along with it to save face.

_Was that really what life is all about? Sticking to your side of the Tracks?_ Jess seemed to have been upset one too many times so I had a feeling we wouldn't be going back to the Reserve anytime soon. Not that it bothered me… they really were stuck up snobs. Well, Except for the one, but what made him different from the rest?

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**A****/N: So the point of this was to basically explain the last two chapters a bit, and show that there is a serious divide between Rich/Poor that even separates family. That's important for the rest of the story. Then I promise after this I'll work on Bella & Edward getting to know each other.. And I will reveal who the mysterious stranger is.**

**Some reviews would be nice too! Im not a vampire I don't bite! :)  
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	4. Beach

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews!! This story is going to take a bit of a turn from what I had previously planned. To be honest I really just wanna finish it up so I can start on the next one! I think I might also change the rating to T cuz im cutting out a whole bunch of M-rated stuff ( sorry! ) but trust me the next story will be jam packed with adult themes.**

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After our lunch I never brought up the subject of the party again. Or Mike, or who that guy at the door might be. We pretty much just pretended that night never happened. Which was fine by me. My actual memory of the evening was fading anyway. I could only vaguely remember the colour of his eyes. Green I think? Or was it more hazel?

_Not that I care or anything._

A few weeks later Jess's birthday rolled around we decided to go to the beach. It was a little crowded today but we managed to find a parking spot. Not before Jess side-swiped a roadblock.

"Jess!! Watch out!" I screamed.

*Scrreeetch * _Too late_

"Oh who cares its just metal" She shrugged it off. It was that kind of attitude that made her car look like it belonged on the scrap heap.

The number of cars in the parking lot seemed tame compared to the number of people actually on the beach.

"Why did they all decide to come here _today_??" Jess huffed as we tried to find a clear patch of sand.

"They're all here for you Jess. They knew it was your birthday" I said rather sarcastically

"Oh good, I hope they brought me presents" She said playing along.

We spent a good hour or so in the waves before we decided it was time for some sunbaking. I set out my towel and started re-applying some sunscreen when I heard the infamous chiming.

"Ohh Bella! Its an icecream truck! Can we pleeeeease get an icecream??" Jess squealed like a little kid.

I didn't really feel like it, but I felt the need to humour her. I grabbed my wallet and we headed up to the boardwalk. It seemed like everyone else had the same idea, there was a group of at least 10 in front of the little van.

"Crap, I left my phone behind. I don't want it to get stolen, save me a spot!!" She yelled behind her as she ran off, not giving me a chance to reply.

I joined the queue behind a bunch of guys who were mucking around with a Frisbee, and shoving each other around. _Someones gonna get hurt _My inner parental voice spoke.

Not a moment too soon

*THUD * I was knocked to the ground.

I took a few moments to realise where I was..

_Green, his eyes were green. Wait, they __are__ green and they were staring at me again._

_Brown, I knew it! Not hazel.. This HAD to be her right?? _

"Edward you idiot! Watch what your doing man!!" Jasper yelled out.

As usual the guys and I were playing rough, and as usual someone got hurt. Except this time it wasn't one of us. It was the girl from Mike's party who I ran into on my way back from Tanya's. _Well at least I think it was her.._

"Umm.." she mumbled as she tried to pick herself up off the floor.

_She's just as bad with words .._

"oh FUCK! What are you guys doing here??" I heard coming from my left.

_Bingo, Blonde friend with a foul mouth. There was no mistaking it now._

"Its public property Jess" Mike retorted.

I don't know why Jasper insists on inviting Mike anywhere, he only ever causes trouble. Sure he throws great parties, I couldn't deny that. But did we really have to take him out with us everywhere we went?

"Duh, but why here? Bugger off to your own beach!" The blonde angrily snapped back.

Hmm so the friend was named Jess, and she obviously had something against Mike. But then again so did half of the United States. During the heated exchange the brown-eyed girl managed to get herself up and wipe the sand off her shorts.

"I dunno, I felt like slumming it today" Mike offered with a sly grin.

I don't know what it was with the wealthy. They never actual had genuine emotions. Smiles were always tainted with some level of gloating. Jess shot Mike an evil look and stormed back down to the beach. I guess ice-cream was off the agenda.

The brown-eyed girl shot a confused glance at the bunch of us boys, and quickly followed her friend back to the beach.

"That's it Mike, scare them off" Jasper chuckled " Edward you didn't even apologize you rude bastard!"

It was true, between being stunned at seeing her face again, and Mikes horrible attitude id forgotten to say sorry to the poor girl for knocking her senseless_. Id also forgotten to ask her name.. or phone number.._

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_**A/N_: _So it WAS Edward!! Hmm what a shock. But he's been thinking of her too! how is he going to get in contact with her now??**_  
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	5. Wallet

**A/N: Hey guys, another chapter. As I've said before this is just a quick story while I'm working on my other (and better) one! So tons of mistakes and I'm not really explaining things well but I hope you like it anyway. Also, if you couldn't tell already the last chapter switched to Edwards point of view, I just didn't type "EPOV" but I'm sure you can figure it out.**

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"Who is she anyway Mike?? And angry Ex or something?" Jasper questioned Mike about the Blonde.

"God no! I have better taste than that Jazz" Mike sounded disgusted "She's a distant relative"

I was half listening to the conversation, hoping they would mention the Brunette but she never got brought up. The line for ice creams crept forward enough for us to shuffle forward. I took one step without looking and felt something under my foot. A wallet.

I picked it up but before I even had a chance to look at it Jasper snapped it out of my hands and looked through it.

"That clumsy chick dropped her wallet!" Jasper laughed out "I wonder if there's any cash!"

"Jasper you idiot, don't be so rude" I snatched the wallet back. I wasn't actually concerned about the money, in fact I probably would have taken it myself but this was my chance to find out something about the girl. I looked through the pockets to find a drivers license or bankcard. Anything with some information.

"Ed, what are you doing?" Mike asked.

"Looking for some I.D or something.." I said without looking up.

"Umm, why? Just take the damn cash and chuck it in the nearest bin. Its not like were actually going to return it" He scoffed.

"What if I'm going to?" I replied, still searching through the pockets.

Mike and Jasper just looked at me as if I had said the sky was purple.

"What's up with you lately?" Mike questioned

"Yeah, you've been acting strange ever since u went to talk to Tanya. What exactly did you guys talk about??" Jasper added with a cheeky grin.

"Nothing important" I shrugged off. I pulled out some cash from the wallet and handed it to Jasper to shut them up "Fine take the money" I said as I put the wallet in my back pocket.

"That's more like it" Mike said as the line shuffled forward once more.

Once I got home that evening I pulled the wallet out. I didn't want to look through it anymore around the guys. There was no way I could explain that this was the wallet of the girl of my dreams. Well my dreams of the last few weeks. Especially when Mike seemed to hate her and Jasper was always insistent on pairing me up with Tanya.

Tucked away in the back pocket I found a Student I.D card

_FORKS SENIOR HIGH_

_Name: Isabella Swan _

_D/O/B: 13__th__ September_

Finally, the girl had a name. Isabella. It didn't take long before I had found the only Swan residence in the area. Now I had her name, and phone number. I picked up my mobile to dial the number but before my fingers hit the keys my bedroom door swung open.

"Edward, I forgot to tell you earlier. Tanya is having a BBQ this weekend, You HAVE to come" He gave me that cheeky grin again and shut the door.

I'm sure Jasper thought he was being subtle but it was painfully obvious. Any excuse to get us in the same room, as if he thought we would magically fall for each other. He was sure his trick to get me to return the cd had worked the night of Mikes party, because I had been in a "daze" ever since. It was true, I had been. But nothing happened at Tanya's to cause it; it was the girl I'd bumped into on the way back.

"Whatever Jazz.." I muttered back and started dialling.

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**A/N: When I started I really didn't want to over-do the "girl of my dreams" thing.. but that's just how its turned out. Please review!! And don't forget you can sign up for story/author updates **:)


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